Loud Year's Eve
by AppleJTZ
Summary: It's New Year's Eve at the Loud House, and the Loud kids are celebrating! It's gonna be a wild, loud ride into the new year.


"Okay, see you later!" Lori hung up her phone. "Mom and Dad still need a while" she told her siblings, who were all assembled around the dining table. "Apparently, half the town is doing some emergency New Year's Eve shopping at Flip's, so the line is literally endless."

"Will they be back in time?" Lincoln asked.

"They're not gonna Miss New Year's Eve, are they?" Lana asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Relax, they'll be back before the fireworks" Lori assured them. "They said though we should start with the lead-pouring already."

The Loud kids nodded, and set everything up: A pot of water, a couple of spoons and candles, and the packs with the lead pieces. Lori gave each of her siblings one piece while keeping the last one for herself. "Alright, you know the rules" she said. "We all get one piece of lead. There are five candles, so if it's not your turn be patient. Everyone younger than ten has to get their lead molten by someone older."

Lisa cleared her throat. "As a woman of science, I do not believe in such superstitious nonsense" she said. "But I just want to point out that I have already handled far more dangerous substances then lead. While I'm at it, I'd also like to point out that due to its toxic nature lead has mostly been replaced by substitute materials for this tradition, so it's not really correct to still call it lead-pouring."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But you still need to let someone melt your lead – or whatever it is – for you. You can barely reach over the table with your tiny arms anyway."

Lisa looked at her arms. "Not very flattering, but I'll accept the logic of your argument."

"Alright, everybody got it?" As no one objected, Lori said: "Then let's get started!"

With a bit of fighting and some commands from Lori, they decided on the first ones to melt their lead: Luan, who agreed to melt the lead for one of the younger siblings, Luna, Lincoln, Leni and Lucy. As Lucy held the spoon with the lead above the candle, Lori glared at her. "Lucy, I said everyone under age of ten needs to have their lead molten!"

"Please, I know how to handle a candle" Lucy said in her dry, monotonous voice. "Also, I am probably the most qualified of all of us to do fortune-telling."

Lori sighed. "Fine. Just be careful with the hot metal."

While waiting, Lynn tapped with her foot on the ground. "Hurry up, will ya?" she urged her sibling at the candles. "I wanna know if fortune's gonna be on my side next year!"

Lisa stepped to her side. "Now, Lynn, I understand that believing in superstitions helps athletes to accommodate with the constant pressure of success. But do you really think a molten piece of metal that is reshaped into abstract form through rapid cooling will be able to tell you how successful your athletic efforts will be in the coming year?"

Lynn shrugged. "Meh, why not? Fortune has strange ways of communicating with us. Before my last baseball game, I woke up with a sock on my forehead. And during the game, I got hit right there with a ball! Compared to that, lead-pouring is pretty clear to me."

Pushing up her glasses Lisa rubbed the bridge of her nose. "That is a highly questionable hypothesis, but I will not argue with someone who sees her future in socks."

Meanwhile, Lincoln watched as his lead figure fell apart in itself and turned into a silver-grey puddle on his spoon. "I think mine is done!" He brought his spoon over to the pot, and poured the lead into the water. It sizzled, creating a small cloud of steam, before the lead hit the bottom of the pot.

Standing behind him, Lori looked over her brother's shoulder. "So, what does it look like?" she asked.

With his spoon Lincoln fished out the little piece of metal. "I'm not sure." He tilted his head. "A… piece of gum?"

Lori scrolled through the list of interpretations on her phone. "Yeah, there isn't really an entry for gum."

"Let me take a look." Pushing his head aside Lynn looked over his shoulder at the spoon. "Hey, that looks just like that X-ray of my ankle when I broke it!" She looked inside the pot. "Especially if the little pieces in the pot count as fractures!"

"A broken ankle isn't on the list either" Lori said, rolling her eyes.

His younger sisters Lisa, Lola and Lana climbed on a chair, also taking a look at the figure of their brother. "Fascinating", the four-year old genius said. "This resembles a specimen of a rare amoeba I recently found under the microscope. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a still image because it was constantly wiggling its tentacles."

"Ew!" Disgusted, Lola stuck out her tongue. "That's just gross!"

"I think it's a booger" Lana said. She put a finger into her nose, dug out a piece of snot, and compared it to the piece of metal on Lincoln's spoon. "Yep, definitely a booger."

Pressing her hand against her mouth Lola held back a barf.

"Let me take a look!" Lori pushed Lynn off Lincoln's shoulder and shooed her sisters down the chair, then looked at the figure on the spoon. "I can't see anything in this mess!" she finally said, shaking her head. "Melt it again."

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "Is that allowed?"

His oldest sister held up her phone. "Would you rather want me to search for a site that lists broken bones, a tiny thing with tentacles or boogers? I'm sure the fortunes for these are gonna be great."

"Good point." After pouring the excess water into the pot Lincoln held his spoon above a candle again.

"I think mine's done now too!" Leni said.

Lori looked at her sister's spoon, and frowned. "Leni, you have to hold the spoon above the candle, not vice versa."

The candle in her hand, Leni looked at the spoon with the lead on the table. "Oh, okay!" With a smile, Leni placed the candle on the table while picking up her spoon.

As Lori rubbed her temples, Luna brought her spoon above the water. "Careful" she said "The heat is on!" Quickly she tilted her spoon, pouring the liquid lead into the pot. Luna looked inside, and grinned. "Alright, it's a guitar!" Raising her arms she made goat-signs with her fingers. "That means I'm gonna become a rock star!"

Lynn looked into the pot. "What are you talking about? That's clearly a lacrosse-stick!"

Frowning, Luna stared into the pot again. "No, dude, that's definitely a guitar!" She pointed at the thick piece of metal at the end of a thin shaft. "See? That's the corpus, and that's the neck."

"The neck is way too long for a guitar!" Lynn said. Grabbing into the water, she fumbled around the thick end of the stick. "And it's even got a dent, like the net of a Lacrosse stick."

Lori looked inside the pot. "I'm afraid Lynn's right, Luna. This does look more like a lacrosse-stick." She squinted her eyes. "Actually, it also resembles a golf-club…"

"Bogus!" With furrowed eyebrows, Luna fished her lead out of the water. "I'm gonna do it again and get a perfect guitar!"

"Hold it, I'm first!" Lynn yelled. The two brunettes fought over the spot at the candle, trying to hold their spoons over the flame.

"Don't fight next an open fire!" Lori shouted at them. While she tried to get between her two sisters, Lucy popped up at the pot, and poured her lead into the water. Looking inside, the figure at the bottom resembled a horse, with a beautiful long mane and a horn on its forehead.

Quickly she fished it out before her siblings saw it, and began to melt it again.

Meanwhile, the lead on Luan's spoon had fully molten. "Okay, the lead is ready" she said, turning to Lana and Lola. "Who of you wants to go first?"

Stepping in front of her twin sister Lola brushed through her hair. "Beauty before age."

"Yeah, so I should go first" Lana said, setting a foot in front of Lola. The two girls tried to push the other one aside with their shoulders, before they started slapping each other. They only stopped when Luan whistled loudly.

"Now, girls instead of fighting who should take the _lead_ " she giggled "How about you two go together? You are two of a kind, after all."

The twins looked at each other. "You promise not to see any sort of booger or earwax in it?" Lola asked.

Lana shrugged. "As long as you don't make it into a tiara or something."

"Deal!"

The twins climbed on a chair. As Luan handed them the spoon each took it with one hand. Carefully, they balanced the liquid lead over the pot. "At three" Lana said, to which Lola nodded.

"One..."

"Two…"

"Three!"

Just as they said three they tilted the spoon. However, the lead didn't flow into the water, but rather stayed attached to the spoon. Irritated, Lola and Lana shook the spoon. The silver-grey mass wobbled, but aside from that didn't move.

"What the…?" Lola turned the spoon upside down. She poked the supposedly liquid metal, only to find it had a strange, jelly-like consistency.

The twins exchanged a glance, before glaring at their older sister. "LUAN!"

Holding her stomach Luan burst out laughing. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Here you go." She handed them another spoon, this one with real molten lead. After glaring at their older sister some more the twins held the spoon over the pot. "Once more" Lana said. "One…"

"Two…"

"Three!"

Together, they tilted the spoon. Unlike before however, they were tilting in different directions. As a result the spoon jittered, causing droplets of liquid metal to rain into the pot. The twins looked inside, seeing lots of tiny fragments, but no large figure.

"Good job Lana!" Lola moaned. "You ruined our fortune!"

"Me!?" Lana yelled. "You were the one who messed up!"

"Hey, calm down!" Luan intervened, stepping between the twins. "Since you shared a piece, you still another one left."

The twins let out a sigh. "Fine" they murmured in unison. While Luan put another piece of lead on her spoon, Lynn, who had prevailed in her fight with Luna, poured her lead into the water. As she looked at the long piece of metal on the bottom of the pot she grinned. "A baseball-bat – nice! It's all homeruns next season for me!"

Over her shoulder, Luna looked at the figure. "That's not a baseball-bat, it's a bassoon."

Lynn gave her sister a puzzled look. "A what's-oon?"

"Bassoon" Luna repeated. "You know, those big woodwind instruments?"

Lynn frowned. "I don't even know what that is, and it's definitely not what I got!"

"Sure it is." Luna pointed a long a line of irregular zags on the side. "Here, these are the holes, and there is even a big opening at the end." She pointed at the thick end of the figure, which was slightly dented inside.

Lori also looked at the figure in the pot. "Well I'm not sure what a bassoon is either, but it does look more like some sort of flute than a baseball-bat." She glanced at Lynn, who did not seem happy. "You wanna go again?"

"You bet I want." The athlete pulled her piece out of the water.

"But first, it's my turn again!" Luna held up her spoon, on which her dried up guitar-lacrosse-stick-golf-club was lying.

"Oh no, I go first!" Lynn yelled. Both girls were getting into each other's faces again. They suddenly turned their heads as Lori whistled into their ears.

"Both of you will have to wait" she said, holding her spoon with her lead. "I haven't gotten a turn yet."

Her sisters grumbled, but didn't protest.

Meanwhile, Lincoln had molten his lead again, and poured it back into the water. A large plate hit the bottom of the pot, the form of which Lincoln believed to immediately recognize. "Hey, this looks a spade! Maybe that means they will finally release the Ace Savvy movie next year."

While he was grinning at his fortune, Leni, who stood at the other side of the table and melted her lead, leaned over the pot, and also smiled. "Oh, how cute – you got a heart!"

Frowning Lincoln stared at his sister, then at his piece of lead. "What? That's not a heart, it's a spade!"

"From this side, it looks like a heart."

Lincoln tilted his head. "Okay, it does look a bit like a heart. But see, there is a tiny piece between the curves – that means it's a spade!"

"Or it could be an arrow piercing the heart." Suddenly, Leni was beaming with excitement. "Which means you'll get a girlfriend!"

"Or a quick and painless death" Lucy murmured, still holding her lead above the candle.

Lincoln slapped his forehead. "This is not a pierced heart!" he yelled. "And it does not mean I'll get a girlfriend!"

Leni blinked at her brother, before her face turned into one of realisation. "Oh, sorry. I forgot Ronnie-Anne's already your girlfriend."

"She's not – oh never mind, I'll make a new one." With a grumpy look on his face Lincoln fished out his piece of lead again.

"Okay, Lincoln" Leni said. She then looked at the piece of lead on her spoon, which showed no signs of melting. "Gosh, this is taking like forever!" she moaned.

Lincoln looked at the spoon, and sighed. "You forgot to ignite the candle."

Leni looked at the candle, which just as he said wasn't burning. "Oh, right. Thanks Lincoln!" Her brother was about to leave when Leni stopped him. "Um, could you ignite it for me?" she asked. "Lori said I shouldn't handle open fire."

Again, Lincoln sighed. "Sure thing, Leni."

While he ignited the candle and Leni watched with a smile, Lucy secretly poured her lead into the water again. Instead of a unicorn, the metal formed a Pegasus, with large angel-like wings and a big smile on its face. Grumbling, she took the lead out again.

Meanwhile the lead on Luan's spoon had molten again. "Okay, the lead's ready!" the prankster said as she handed the twins the spoon. "And this time, _pour_ your whole heart into it!" She giggled, before getting all serious. "But seriously, don't mess it up!"

While Luan placed her own piece of lead on another spoon, the twins held their spoon over the water. "Okay, we'll count to three" Lana said. "And then we'll both turn right, as if we were tightening the screws on a tire."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but fine." Lola glared at Luan. "No pranks on this one?"

Luan shook her head. "Nope. I got hungry and ate the jelly."

"Good."

Each twin having a hand on the spoon, they began to count. "One…"

"Two…"

"Three!"

Together, they turned the spoon around. The lead spilled into the water, sizzling as it dived down. As Lana and Lola leaned over the pot, they were both confused by the shape of their figure. While one half was perfectly clean and shiny with curves on the edges, the other one had a rough surface, with countless tiny zags standing off like hairs from an electrocuted weasel.

"Okay, I know I promised not to call it a booger" Lana said "But you gotta admit, it looks like one of those that is half slimy and half solid."

Shuddering, Lola stuck out her tongue. "Gross – but you have a point, it does look weird."

"Yeah, I have no idea what it's supposed to be." Lana scratched her head. "Maybe we should split it in two and see if the single pieces make sense? I mean, it is basically two fortunes in one."

Lola shrugged. "Worth a shot. I'll get the pretty half though."

"You really think I want it?"

Once Lana had picked their figure out from the water, each twin pulled at it from one side. Despite its appearance however, they were unable to break it in two halves. Eventually they gave up, looking both frustrated and confused at their figure.

"That stupid think isn't breaking!" Lola yelled.

"That's kind of weird" Lana said. "It shouldn't be so stable."

"What is that thing supposed to tell us about our future?!" The little princess looked at it from all sides. "I can't see anything in it, except one half is kind of pretty, and one is just… bleurgh!"

Lana scratched her chin. "Two halves of the same, completely different…"

"…but they can't be separated" Lola murmured.

The twins thought about it for a while.

"Maybe" Lana said "It's supposed to represent the bond between us, and that we will always be connected?"

"Maybe." Lola turned up her mouth. "I'd rather have something that tells me if I'm gonna be rich or famous though."

Lana nodded. "Yeah, I'd also rather have one that tells me whether I'll stay healthy or have to take it down a notch with the dumpster diving."

"Wanna go again?"

"Sure."

The twins jumped off the chair with their spoon and figure. "But let's ask someone else to melt the lead for us" Lola suggested. "Just in case Luan got some more of that silver jelly."

Once they were gone, Lori approached the pot, carefully balancing the molten lead on her spoon. "Careful" she murmured "Careful… and in you go!"

The moment she said "go" she tilted her spoon, pouring the lead into the pot. As it fell to the bottom, the metal formed a small compact figure. Despite being metal it looked somewhat fluffy, with a lot of little bulges on the surface. As Lori saw her figure she smiled. "A cloud! That must mean the love between Bobby and me will be as just as strong next year as it was this year – we will literally float on cloud nine!"

Pressing her fists against her cheek she let out an amorous sigh. As she was drifting in lovestruck fantasies, she didn't hear at first the stuttering noise as if someone was holding back laughter. When she did hear it she turned her head, seeing Lynn and Luna grinning behind her back while biting their lips. "What's so funny?" she asked.

The two sisters exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing. "It's a fart cloud, dude!" Luna shouted.

"You'll be stuck with your flatulence problems!" Lynn said, wiping a tear from her eye.

At first, Lori blankly stared at them. As her face turned red, a bright, fluorescent red, one couldn't say whether it was out of anger or embarrassment.

"I don't have any flatulence problems!" she yelled. "And it's not a fart cloud - that's not even on the list!" She looked at her smartphone, scanning the list on the lead-pouring site. "There!" she said, showing the entry to her sisters in triumph. "Cloud's here, but no fart cloud!"

Lynn and Luna looked at her phone. To their older sister's surprise however, they grinned even wider. "You might want to check your fortune" Lynn told her.

"Yeah" Luna giggled "It ain't all sugar and spice."

With a raised eyebrow Lori looked at her phone. "'Cloud'" she read aloud "You are hit by a streak of… bad luck!?" Grunting, Lori put her phone into her pocket. "I'm sure that was a mistake" she mumbled. "Surely my fortune wanted to tell me about how great my future with Bobby is gonna be - I'll go again."

After fishing out her piece of lead she headed back to the candle. However, Lynn blocked her path. "Wait for your turn - I'm gonna do my second one next!"

"No way!" Luna yelled, also stepping in front of the candle. "I've been waiting the longest - now I get my fortune told for free!"

Straightening her back, Lori looked down on her younger sisters. "Sorry, but I'm the oldest, so I'm the first to go second!"

Lynn flexed her arm. "Oh yeah? Well I got the biggest biceps, so it's my turn!"

The three sisters glared at each other. In a moment's notice, the stare-off turned into a brawl, as the three of them fought over who would get the free spot at the candle.

In the meantime, Leni watched as the lead on her spoon finally melted down. But instead of pouring it into the water, she turned towards Lisa. "Your lead is ready!"

The four-year old brunette looked up to her. "I wasn't even aware you were melting it for me" she said. "If you wish, you can go first, second-eldest sibling, for as I've stated, I do not believe in such superstitions."

"Oh, I don't mind waiting" Leni assured her. "Besides, this doesn't really have anything to do with stitches, neither normal nor super ones."

"In that case I thank you, but must humbly ask you to assist me, for as Lori already pointed out…" She looked up to the edge of the table, far out of her reach, and sighed. "I can't really reach the pot."

"Sure!" After giving Lisa the spoon with the lead Leni grabbed her under her armpits, and carefully lifted her on the table. Once she had set her down in front of the pot Leni said: "Watch out though, it's hot."

The little genius looked at the spoon with the molten metal, and rolled her eyes. "Just this morning, I conducted an experiment with plasma for a nuclear fusion experiment. I think I can handle some lead-substitute molten by a candle."

With ease, she held the spoon over the water, and poured it inside. Both she and her older sister leaned over the pot. The bottom of it was scattered with little fragments of lead, making her piece a bit hard to distinguish. Rolling up her sleeves Lisa put her arms into the water, and pulled out her figure. It was a large stick, with several smaller ones reaching out from out, varying in size and form.

"Fascinating" Lisa said, turning the figure in her hands. "The sudden cool-down seemed to have given the metal a quite unique shape. It resembles one of Picasso's earlier line works."

Over Lisa's head, Leni also looked at the figure. "Did that Pikachu-guy draw trees?" she asked. "Cause this looks like a tree."

Furrowing her brows, Lisa glanced up at Leni, before giving her figure another thorough look. "It does have some resemblance with the archetype shape of a tree" she admitted. "However, no tree of my knowledge really does look like this. Or could you point out the specific arboreal plant this accumulation of substitutes for the 82nd element in the periodic table is supposed to represent?"

Leni blinked.

"What kind of tree does this piece of lead look like?" Lisa asked.

Bringing her face close to the figure Leni tapped her chin. "I dunno" she said. "A Christmas tree maybe?"

"…Putting aside that this is not a proper genus, this would be a weird interpretation as Christmas is just over."

"But it's the fortune for next year." Suddenly, Leni got excited. "So this means next year, there is gonna be Christmas, too – yay!"

As Leni smiled in glee, Lisa patted her older sister on the head.

At the same time, Lincoln and Luan simultaneously approached the pot of water. Seeing how the liquid barely reached the edges of Lincoln's spoon, Luan raised an eye-bow. "Um, I'm usually an optimistic person" she said to her brother "But your spoon looks more half-empty than half-full."

With a sigh, Lincoln nodded. "Yeah, this is my third run. A bit of lead has probably fallen off when I've poured it in the first two times."

"You're seeing this the wrong way" Luan said, balancing her lead above the water. "Instead of being disappointed by what you get and trying to redo it, you've gotta read the best in your futune, even if it isn't what you hoped for."

A content look on her face, Luan tilted her spoon, pouring her lead into the water. As she looked inside the pot, her smile froze. No matter how one looked at it, her figure looked like a skull.

"You were saying?" Lincoln asked, a snide ring in his voice.

Luan cleared her throat. "Well a skull doesn't have to mean something bad you know, it could also mean change, or… or the end of something, or maybe I'm gonna be a pirate or – oh to heck with it!" She snatched her piece of lead out of the water, then went to melt it again.

Once she was gone Lincoln held his lead above the water. He wiggled the spoon a little, ensuring all lead on it was still liquid, then slowly tilted it.

"Want me to interpret your figure?"

Gasping Lincoln dropped his spoon into the water. "Lucy, don't scare me like that!" he yelled, furiously turning towards his sister who had popped up beside him. "I dropped my spoon because of you!"

"Sorry" the little goth said. In her hand, she was holding her own spoon with molten lead. "It's just that Lori is still busy fighting with Lynn and Luna, so she can't check her phone, and I know most fortune-teller symbols by heart."

Sighing, Lincoln picked up his spoon. Most of the lead had remained on it, but a good amount was now lying scattered at the bottom of the pot. "Well, I don't think this makes much for a fortune" he said, looking at the mass of lead stuck to his spoon.

Beneath her bangs, Lucy also inspected it. "It reminds me a bit of a medusa head. Wanna hear your fortune for that?"

"Thanks, but I'll rather re-melt it" Lincoln said. "At least, what's still left."

As he went back to the candle, Lucy poured her lead into the water. Staring at her from the bottom of the pot was a smiling unicorn with wings and dancing on a rainbow. "Grr… I know I shouldn't try to defy my fate" Lucy murmured "But I'd really rather have a raven or a bat instead of… this."

While Lucy quickly snatched her figure, Lincoln was about to put his spoon back over the candle. A large shadow suddenly loomed behind him. As he turned around, he saw Lori, Lynn and Luna standing there, looking at him with a frown. "Hey, this is your fourth go already" Lori said "While we haven't even gotten a second one!"

"But it's not my fault I have to go again!" Lincoln showed them his spoon with lead stuck on it. "I dropped my spoon into the water because Lucy scared me."

"Doesn't matter Stincoln" Lynn said "You let me go next!"

"No, me!" Luna yelled.

"Before that, can one of you melt our lead?" someone called from below. Looking down, they saw the twins standing at their feet, each holding their spoon with one hand. "We also want another go" Lana told them.

"Preferably with more concrete results" Lola said, looking at their abstract figure.

Lisa approached the group of her siblings. "I also require assistance" she said, holding up her tree-like figure. "Leni refuses to re-melt mine, and while I still do not believe that lead or substitutes for it can tell the future, I do not want to be left with a Christmas tree."

"But Lisa" Leni said, walking up behind her with a worried look on her face "If you melt it there might be no Christmas next year!"

Lisa rolled her eyes.

"We are busy here" Lincoln told his younger siblings "Go ask Luan!"

Luan, standing with her half-molten lead at the candle, frowned. "Hey, I'm busy here myself! Go ask Lucy – she should be done by now!"

Lucy, just about to put her spoon with the flying unicorn over the flame, quickly hid it behind her back. "I, er, still need some time."

"You make that out among yourselves" Lincoln said to his sisters as he turned back towards the candle "But I'll be the next one to get my fortune!"

Suddenly, Lynn was tucking at his arm. "No, it'll be me!" she shouted.

"No dudes, it's me!" Luna said, grabbing Lynn.

The twins grabbed the musician's legs. "No us!"

"No, it's gonna be me!"

"No Lisa, you'll ruin Christmas!"

Soon, the Loud siblings were all fighting and arguing with each other. Even Lucy and Luan got involved, as they were accused of hogging the spots at the candle. Only Lori watched from the sides as her siblings engaged in a brawl. Eventually, she took in a deep breath.

"ENOUGH!"

Lori's voice bellowed through the dining hall, cutting off all shouting and fighting. "Okay, this is getting out of hand" the oldest Loud kid said. "We can't just re-melt the lead every time we are unhappy with the results – that way, we won't be done before midnight!"

With a sigh, Lincoln nodded his head. "Lori's right." A determined look on his face, he held up his index finger. "I say everyone gets one more go and that's it."

"Agreed" Lori said. "And to avoid any further fighting, two of us will share one candle. That way it will take longer to melt, but everyone can go at once."

"What about us?" Lola asked, referring to herself and the rest of the younger siblings.

"You and Lana share a piece of lead, right? Luan will melt yours, Leni will melt Lisa's and I will melt Lily's at the same time as our own. Everyone got it?"

The Loud kids all nodded. It didn't take long until they all had assembled around the candles, two spoons hovering above each of the flames. One by one, they dropped their lead into the water. As the last figure had been taken out, leaving the bottom of the pot full of lead fragments, the Loud kids checked their figures, inspecting them from all angles.

"So what did everybody get?" Lori asked after a while.

One eye closed Lincoln held his figure up to the ceiling lamp. "I think it's another piece of gum… at least, that's all I'm seeing in it."

"Yeah, mine's also pretty wobbly" Luna said, turning her figure over and over. "Probably should have stuck with the lacrosse-stick."

"Or the bash-moon or whatever it's called" Lynn said, getting no clue from her own piece of lead. She turned to her roommate. "What about you, Luce?"

Lucy, who held a perfectly shaped trio of a unicorn, a pegasus and a unicorn-pegasus in her hand quickly closed her palm. "Can't make it out either."

Lori looked around the dining hall. "Did anyone get something they can recognize?"

Everybody shook their head.

"Mine looks like a piece of lead" Leni said "But I can't find any fortune for that."

Lori sighed. "Great, I got nothing either. But at least we finally got that checked off."

"What about Lily?" Lincoln asked.

Lori looked at the second piece of lead she was holding. "Sorry Lily, but I can't see anything in your figure either." She looked at their youngest sister, and raised an eye-brow. "Lily?"

The little baby was sitting on the table, right in front of the pot with the water. Leaning over it she giggled, pointing inside. "Fam'ly! Fam'ly!"

The Loud kids all leaned over the pot. On the bottom, the various fragments of lead had formed thirteen humanoid figures, each with a distinct size, except for two identical ones. They were all assembled and seemed to be holding each other's hands. Looking closely, one could even see the smiles on their faces.

For a moment, everybody silently stared into the pot. With a smile, Lori stemmed her hands against her hips. "Well, even without checking the internet, I think that's a pretty neat fortune for next year."


End file.
